One Stretch At A Time
by Eternal Love Song
Summary: Mina helps Izuku stretch before class. [Izumina] [Ballet AU]


Izuku had always been a little on the clumsy side. It wasn't that he had bad reflezes or was really more accident prone than anyone else, it was that he was anxious, jumping, and lacked the self confident to move decisively. His mother didn't know that though. She thought that Izuku was just clumsy and she thought a way to help with that was to enroll him in ballet classes. In theory, it was... an idea, certainly.

In practice, Izuku's first week had gone pretty poorly. He had made several mistakes, bumped into his classmates, and was always fretting over his form in the mirrors since he could see himself from nearly every angle. His teacher told him not to worry about that, but Izuku wasn't really good at setting his worries aside.

It was now the first day of his second week and he was dreading the start of class. He had come early to practice, but found himself quickly at a loss for what to do. He was sitting on the floor feeling sorry for himself when one of his classmates approached. There weren't too many here at such an early time so he was very surprised when he looked up to see who was casting a shadow over him.

"Hey, newbie." Mina Ashido was standing over him and Izuku thought that he might explode internally. He was pretty sure she was one of the best girls in the glass. She was beautiful, graceful, and flexible. Her pink skin made her stand out and her movements were always really fluid. He couldn't imagine what she wanted nor why she was smiling at him so brightly. "Help me stretch."

"W-what?" He asked in surprised.

She dropped gracefully to the floor at his side. "I want you to help me stretch," She told him.

"Ah... okay!" He agreed quickly, trying to push down the nervousness that was building inside him. He wasn't used to talking one on one with girls, especially not girls as pretty as she was.

She smiled at him again before scooting forward and moving into position. "You know what to do?" She asked.

"Um..."

"Just push down on my back," She told him. "Not too hard, though."

"Uh, okay." He answered. He moved onto his knees behind her as she spread her legs out flat on either side of her and stretched her on before her, palm down. She extended herself forward and he pushed down on her back. "Is that good?"

"A little more," She said. He could heard a small strain in her voice and he attributed it to how she was stretched out. "Hold me there for 20 seconds."

"Okay," He agreed. He was glad that she couldn't see how much he was blushing from such a simple thing. He admired the way she was able to bend, how much control she had over her body. "You're really amazing, Ashido."

"Huh?" She lifted her head and tried to look at him over her shoulder.

"Ah! I m-mean, I just mean th-that you're really flexible and graceful and y-y-you're so good at ballet and, um..." Izuku rambled, pulling back and removing his hands from her body as if she had somehow burned him. "I-I-I'm sorry!"

She giggled as she slowly sat back. "Your rambling is kinda cute," She told him. "I could only catch about half of that, but I know a compliment when I hear it. So thank you!" Her smile caused his cheeks to heat up and he couldn't do much more than look at her in awe.

"Come on, your turn." She said.

"Wh-what?"

Mina pat the ground in front of her. "Your turn to stretch. I'll help you."

"Oh, uh..." A refusal was on the tip of his tongue, mostly due to embarrassment, but the kindness in her expression made the words catch in his throat.

"If you don't stretch well before class, you won't be able to work as well later," She told him. "You need to start building good habits early or else it can really screw you over later on."

"R-right," He said. Izuku nervously scrambled to sit before her and moved onto her knees.

"Now, you don't need to try to go as far down as I did." She said. "Just go down as far as you can on your own and then I'll push you a little further."

"O-okay," He said. He leaned forward and after a moment, felt her pushing down on his back.

"Take a few breaths," She said softly, and he felt dizzy as the blood rushed to his head from feeling her breath on his neck. After a few seconds, shorter than he had pushed her, she let up. "You good?" She asked.

"Y-yeah."

"Alright, we'll do that a few more times and then I want yo to help me with a few spins. I'm getting bored," She told him.

"Wha? But didn't you say I should build good habits? I don't know anything about-"

Mina waved off his worries. "It'll be super easy," She told him. "I'm the one doing all the work. Besides, rules can be boring."

Izuku was suddenly unsure if he should be taking advice from her. She was one of the best, but she also seemed way more impatient than he expected her to be. He moved into position to stretch again. "That doesn't seem like a great idea," He said, straining to talk while stretched out.

"You're no fun," She told him when she let him up. "The rules will only hold you back."

Izuku looked at her skeptically. "Hmm..."

"Don't look at me like that," She pouted. Mina took his hands in her own and pulled up into a standing position with her. "Look, just stand here." She lifted on of their joined hands above her head. "Keep that there." She moved his other hand to her waist. "And this here."

"A-Ashido!" He objected, but she just smiled at him.

"I just need you to help me keep steady," She told him. Without another word she began to spin and he did his best to dollow the, admittedly simple, instructions that she gave him as she did so. "See, this isn't so bad."

"I guess so," He agreed.

"So, I notice you get to class early a lot," She said.

"Yeah?"

"Maybe we can help each other," She said. "I get really bored being here so early, but my parents drop me off before they go to work, so I don't have much of a choice what time I get here. And, since you're here early too, we can be partners."

"P-partners?" He asked, his mind jumping to a million different conclusions about what such wording could mean and growing increasingly red as the thoughts escalated. All his ideas came to a screeching halt as she clarified.

"In class," She told him. "I can help you practice, I've been at this for years, and you can play with me so that I don't get bored." She brought herself to a stop, smiling at him and moving closer in her excitement. "Do we have a deal?"

Izuku had a feeling that he really didn't what he was getting himself into. Still, he nodded at her. "O-okay. A deal."

She tossed her arms around him in a hug. "Yes! Thank you!"

Izuku was pretty sure he had died and gone to heaven in that moment. He was so red and his face was so hot that he was pretty sure that she could feel it. Still, he managed to stumble out the words, "Y-you're welcome, um, Ashido."


End file.
